Linux is struggling on the desktop because it only has a small number of "great" apps, according to the Gnome co-creator. Miguel de Icaza, co-creator of the Gnome desktop, told tech journalist Tim Anderson at the recent Windows 8 Build conference "When you count how many great desktop apps there are on Linux, you can probably name 10," de Icaza said, according to a post on Anderson's IT Writing blog. "You work really hard, you can probably name 20. We've managed to p*** off developers every step of the way, breaking APIs all the time."

"To be honest, with Linux on the desktop,
the benefits of open source
have really played against Linux on the desktop
in that we keep breaking things."
...
"We’ve managed to piss off developers
every step of the way,
breaking APIs all the time."
...
"I’m heartbroken, that’s the bottom line."